Shattered Shield
by thisfairytalegonebad
Summary: Prompto, of course, knows that Gladio's job is to take hits for Noct. He just didn't expect Gladio to take a hit for him. Whumptober 2019 'Human Shield', Bad Things Happen Bingo 'dislocated joint'.


**This fic is a week late but it's for the Whumptober 2019 prompt 'human shield' and honestly that just SCREAMS Gladio. Simultaneously, I'm using it for my Bad Things Happen Bingo, the 'dislocated joint' square.**

**Warning: contains medical procedures, not super graphic but may still squick those out who are squeamish about these things.**

**The Gladio whump we all deserve! Enjoy!**

* * *

Prompto wasn't a big fan of caves in general, but this ice cave was a whole different level of shitty. The worst thing about caves were usually the bugs and bug-like things crawling around, but this cave was slippery, cold, _and_ there were _spider daemons_. Ugh. Could it get any worse?

Not even ten seconds ago Prompto had asked that question with a pitiful moan, and of course, that was when one of these terrible, terrible spider daemons appeared right in front of them with a hideous shriek. And because that wasn't horrible enough and Prompto didn't already nearly have a heart attack, it also decided to summon its babies.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh nooo," Prompto squeaked, quickly backing up as far as he could without falling down the edge and firing away at the spider.

The good thing about fighting with a gun was that he usually got to stay out of the way while still being helpful to his friends. The baby spiders crawled all over the place and some got way too close for his liking, but a well-aimed shot kept them away from him pretty nicely. The most important thing was that the big one didn't get too close to him because _ew_.

The fact that he stood away from the carnage turned into a problem instead of a blessing the exact moment in which the big spider daemon apparently thought he made a nice target all singled out like that, and charged for him faster than he could react.

The spider was fast, but something else was even faster, moving in front of him before the spider could even touch him.

Gladio, he realized faintly, just before the wind was knocked out of him as the spider slammed into Gladio at full speed and Gladio slammed into Prompto and then they were falling.

Prompto was too surprised to even scream. He braced himself, ready to go splat on the icy ground, but it didn't happen. Instead, Gladio wrapped his arms around him and twisted their bodies around at an amazing speed. When the impact came barely a second later and he landed not on the cold, hard ground but on a warm body, Prompto realized with growing horror that Gladio had taken the brunt of the fall.

Worse, Gladio _screamed _when they hit the ground. The sound tore through Prompto's body and nearly shattered his heart. Tears pricked at his eyes as he hurried to get off Gladio as painlessly as possible.

"Gladio, Gladio, talk to me," he said, sounding panicked even to his own ears. Gladio's eyes were closed, his breathing ragged and his face clenched in agony and he wasn't even sure if he was conscious.

"You… okay?" Gladio wheezed, barely audible and obviously trying very hard to keep it together.

"Yeah, don't worry about me, I'm good." It wasn't entirely the truth, his ribs were probably pretty bruised from the combined weight of Gladio and the spider daemon slamming into him, but it was nothing compared to what Gladio was going through.

Prompto tore his gaze away from Gladio's face and made himself look over his body to check for injuries. When he got to Gladio's lower body, he almost wished he hadn't.

His hand flew up to his mouth and he bit down on hand to keep himself from yelling. "Oh, _fuck_. Gladio, don't… don't move, okay?"

"Wouldn't if I could… why?" Gladio asked. It sounded as if every word was sucking away his life force.

It took Prompto several tries to get the words out. When he managed, they came out shaky and quiet. "There's something wrong with your hip, I think it might be dislocated. And, uh. There's kind of a spike of ice sticking through your leg."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Above them, Ignis and Noct finally finished the battle against the daemons.

"Gladio! Prompto!" Noct screamed, moving to warp down to them, but Ignis caught his arm before he could throw his sword.

"Noct, we don't know how thick the ice is. It might break if you use it to warp. We'll have to find a different way down."

Noct hesitated, torn between taking the shortest way to his friends and not wanting to risk hurting them any further. Finally, he dismissed the sword with a frustrated growl and nodded.

"Let's go."

Ignis peered over the edge, paling when he saw the state Gladio was in. "You two, stay put. Prompto, you need to keep him awake. We'll be there as soon as possible."

Prompto gave him a weak thumbs-up as he disappeared to follow after Noct.

"Hear that, big guy? You gotta stay awake, alright?"

Gladio's eyes fluttered open and he turned his head a little to look at Prompto.

"I'll do my best."

Already, he was shivering. At least he'd decided to wear a shirt and a jacket today. Prompto really wouldn't have wanted him to freeze to death just because he wanted to show off his perfect body. Although he looked already damn cold even with the shirt. Fuck.

Closing his eyes to concentrate, Prompto rummaged through the Armiger, praying that the blanket he vaguely remembered was still there.

"Oh, thank the gods," he sighed when he found it. As gently as he could, he placed it on Gladio. It wasn't really thick, but it would still keep him a bit warmer. Hopefully.

"You're gonna be okay. Noct and Iggy are coming, we'll get you out of here, and you'll be right as rain," he told Gladio, trying very hard to blink away the tears in his eyes. On a whim, he reached out and clasped Gladio's hand, the one closest to him between his own.

Gladio squeezed back weakly. "Mmm."

Prompto swallowed hard, forcing his voice to sound normal. "Hey, lemme tell you about the time Noct and I accidentally set the kitchen on fire."

He launched into a jumbled retelling of the story, losing track of the time as he focused on getting a reaction out of Gladio to reassure himself that he was still awake, and more importantly, alive.

By the time Noct and Ignis arrived, Prompto was freezing cold, but Gladio was barely shivering anymore. A bad sign, that much even Prompto with his limited first aid knowledge knew.

"Iggy, what do we do?" he asked, desperate for Ignis to take the wheel and fix this mess.

Ignis knelt down beside them, studying Gladio's injuries briefly before he reached out and snapped Gladio's right leg back into its socket without a warning.

Gladio's scream was almost worse than when they fell, if only because it was a lot weaker now but filled with just as much agony.

Prompto himself flinched violently and saw Noct react the same way out of the corner of his eye, but he supposed it was the least painful this way. He'd dislocated his shoulder in battle once and Gladio had put it back the same way. Then, he'd explained that it was best to do it unexpectedly so the injured person wouldn't have time to tense up which made sense, but by the gods did it look brutal.

Ignis muttered soft, soothing words to Gladio, keeping his hand in an attempt to reassure him.

At first, Prompto thought Gladio had lost consciousness, but when he looked more closely, he realized he was still hanging on, although barely.

"Apologies," Ignis said, sounding like he really meant it. "It had to be done first so it wouldn't heal wrong when we use a curative. We'll need to use one immediately after we remove the spike or he'll bleed out."

"Right," Noct said. He looked more than a little pale, but he took a deep breath and looked at Ignis. "So how do we do it? It's attached to the ground, we can't pull it out."

Ignis nodded. "I fear it would jar him too much if we break it with force, and it might damage the muscle even more. I'll try to melt it. Noct, Prompto, please stand guard, lest we get ambushed by daemons."

He summoned a flame in his hand, carefully holding it against the ice which was quickly beginning to melt.

Prompto and Noct stood back to back, tensely waiting for daemons to appear and attack them. Nothing happened, though, at least here luck seemed to be on their side.

Ignis' fire was powerful enough to melt the spike almost down to Gladio's thigh within just a few minutes. Fortunately, because they didn't have any more time to spare. Gladio was starting to get dangerously cold.

"Now we have to lift him off," Ignis said. "Gladio, I'm sorry. This is going to hurt."

"Can't… get much worse…" Gladio replied. His voice was barely a whisper, but he set his jaw and gave a determined nod. "Do it."

"One, two-" Ignis counted, and on _three_, they lifted Gladio off the spike.

This time, Gladio didn't even have the energy to scream anymore. His head simply lolled back and he was out cold.

"Probably for the best," Ignis commented, regarding Gladio thoughtfully after he used an elixir on the gaping wound on his thigh and checked Gladio's pulse. "We still have to get him out of here, and it won't be pleasant for him."

Together, they managed to deposit Gladio on Ignis' back with his wrists tied together so his arms wouldn't slide off.

Noct scouted ahead while Prompto brought up the rear, but they only had to fight a handful of imps twice on their way out. It helped that they'd already kicked some serious ass while going in, it meant the way was largely daemon-free now. Small blessings, right?

When they were out of the cave and almost up the stairs to the road, the telltale whirring of an imperial dropship approached, fast.

Prompto's heart sank. There was no way they could take out that many MTs with Gladio out of commission and in need of protection in their current state. His ribs still twinged with every step, and Gladio's weight was exhausting Ignis. Plus, Ignis couldn't fight anyway with Gladio on his back, so in conclusion, the world hated them and they were fucked.

Noct obviously felt the same way. "Oh, _fuck _this," he hissed, eyes narrowing as he summoned his blade. Alright, maybe with Noct this angry, maybe they would stand a chance after all.

Prompto glanced up at the sky again to see how much time they had left until the dropship was directly above him, and realized-

"Guys!" he yelled, "Noct, it's okay, look! It's Aranea!"

Relief flooded him and nearly brought him to his knees. Not an army of MT, just Aranea. Aranea would help them.

Sure enough, Aranea jumped out of the dropship and landed in front of them, miraculously without shattering all her bones in the process. Prompto still kind of wondered how she did that.

"You guys look like shit," she said with a smirk. "Need some help?"

"Hi to you too," Noct groused. His stance relaxed slightly, but he still looked wary as if he were expecting another attack any minute now.

She nodded towards Gladio. "What's wrong with him?"

"Ice caves suck," Prompto told her with a weak shrug, not really feeling like explaining the whole thing. Especially not that Gladio had taken a hit meant for _him _and gotten horribly hurt while doing so. Ugh. He was so gonna have nightmares about this.

"Aranea, would you be so kind as to take us to Hammerhead?" Ignis asked, stepping forward while subtly trying to adjust Gladio on his back. "I fear transporting Gladio in the car in his state may do him more harm than good. And he might be hypothermic, he needs warmth as soon as possible."

"Sure. Hop in. Hammerhead, you say?"

She marched ahead without waiting for a reply, but at the top of the ramp, she paused. "You can bring the car too. Unless you wanna go collect it here all the way from Hammerhead later."

"She has a point," Prompto muttered, watching as Noct started the car and drove it up the ramp.

Inside, Aranea's men were already preparing a cot for Gladio to lie on, along with an entire pile of blankets. Ignis lay him down carefully, checked his pulse again, and used another elixir on him before he pulled the blankets over him.

Prompto hovered nervously, feeling the need to help but not knowing what to do. In the end, he just tried his best to avoid standing in Iggy's way. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"I'm sure he will," Ignis said with an expression that wasn't quite a smile - the scare was still too recent for that - but it was very much intended to be comforting. "His wounds have healed and he is warming up. He's no longer in danger, though it will most likely take a few days for him to recover. His hip and his leg may bother him for a while, but I'm positive he'll make a full recovery."

"Oh, thank the astrals." Prompto let out a slow exhale, finally giving in to his weak knees and sliding down the wall next to the cot, and next to Noct who was on the phone informing Cindy they'd be arriving at Hammerhead in an imperial dropship.

Gladio was gonna be okay.

He leaned against Noct, smiling as Noct's weight pressed back against him. He was starting to warm up too, he probably wouldn't even need a potion for his ribs, and he was content to watch Aranea bicker with her men until he eventually fell asleep.

* * *

Gladio was a morning person through and through. The only times waking up was kind of hard were the rare occasions on which he'd gone overboard with alcohol, but even that was nothing against the struggle trying to open his eyes and get his brain to work now.

He tried to say something before he was even really awake, but somewhere along the way it transformed into a groan, and it came out as a weak sigh. Finally, his eyes opened and he was gaining some sense of awareness of his surroundings.

There was a ridiculous amount of pillows beneath his head, so turning his head to see where he was only resulted in seeing more of the pillow. He tried to shift a bit and immediately regretted it.

"Oh, fuck," he groaned. Everything ached, his entire body was sore even worse than after training with Cor. The most disturbing thing was that he remembered absolutely nothing that would justify him feeling like that.

"Gladio? Hey, big guy! You're finally awake!" a voice said from beside the bed, and then a mop of blond hair appeared in his field of vision.

"Prompto… where are we? Where are the others?" Talking was surprisingly difficult, especially with his throat that felt like sandpaper.

"Hammerhead. You're in Cindy's bed, she insisted. Iggy's making dinner for like, everyone who lives here, but I don't think Takka is very happy with it. And Noct got roped into helping Cid with something."

Gladio frowned. Cindy's bed? Why were they in the apartment and not in the caravan? That didn't make any sense.

"What happened?"

Prompto grimaced. "You don't remember?"

When Gladio shook his head, he smiled weakly and picked at his fingernails. "Well, you kinda… we were in that cave, the one west of Lestallum that's full of ice and freezing cold. You fell and broke your hip like some grandpa. Except you didn't break it, just dislocated it. And you also, uh. Kinda got stabbed through the thigh by an icicle."

Gladio's brow furrowed as he tried to remember, but he came up with nothing.

"Sounds fun."

"Oh, yes, it was great," Prompto deadpanned. He kept fidgeting with his wristband and avoiding Gladio's eyes and generally acting pretty fucking cagey.

"What else? You're being weird, spit it out, Blondie."

Biting his lip, Prompto said, "Yeah, well. You only fell because you took a hit meant for me."

Oh, right. Now Gladio remembered, the Arachne charging at Prompto, then falling over the edge. The impact, and yeah, that had hurt like a bitch. Still…

"That's it? That's what has you acting all weird?"

Surprised, Prompto looked up. "I mean. Yeah. You risked your life for me, you got skewered on some ice for me, who does that?"

The shrug didn't turn out as nonchalant as Gladio would have liked, with him lying in bed and all, but it had to do. "I do that. Deal with it, because I'd do it again."

Prompto just stared at him, at a loss for words. The tips of his ears were colored red, and it didn't look like he'd regain his composure anytime soon.

Since Gladio's throat reminded him rather insistently that it would very much like some water, he used the opportunity to try and sit up in bed. But he severely underestimated how disgustingly weak his body was right now, and so his arms gave out when he'd barely managed to lift himself up a bit.

"Wait, I'll help!" Prompto snapped out of his state of disbelief in order to help Gladio hoist himself up and lean against - who would have guessed - some more pillows. He handed Gladio a glass of water, unnecessarily reminded him not to drink too fast.

Once the glass was empty and Gladio almost felt like a real human with real, not-sandpaper skin in his throat, he grinned at Prompto. "So, how bad do you think will Iggy kill me if I get up and take a shower now?"

Prompto narrowed his eyes and gave him a look, leaning forward in his seat to jab him in the chest. "He'd absolutely kill you dead, and then he'd kill _me_ for not keeping you in bed. You're staying put!"

"That's probably fair," Gladio agreed. He was mainly kidding anyway, he wasn't sure he'd even be able to get out of bed and remain standing long enough to take a shower without cracking his head open on the floor. He probably needed another day or two to go back to normal.

"I've got a better idea. Sleep."

Gladio considered for a moment before deciding that, yes, sleep was a very good idea.

He closed his eyes and drifted off quickly, only vaguely registering Prompto fussing with his blanket a bit, and then he was out like a light.

* * *

**Aranea is in this because I love her and I said so.**

**(And honestly, being transported in an airship is so much more comfortable for Gladio, imagine laying him out in the backseat that is probably too short for him, and every time the car jerks a bit would probably be painful. Poor guy has been through enough in this fic and I hope he knows that I would die for him without hesitation)**

**Hope you liked! I'm also on Twitter ( Butterfly_OnIce) and Tumblr (thisfairytalegonebad), and even on Discord too (thisfairytalegonebad#2939) and I'm always happy to chat, about my fics or your fics or these boys or literally anything!**


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